Politician's son dabbled in family's modest publishing business before launching Sun TV when India's satellite television market opened up in the 1990s. Sun now owns 14 channels, 4 radio stations, newspapers and magazines. Group's April listing made Maran, who owns 90%, a billionaire. Brother Dayanidhi minister for communications and IT.

Methodology: Unlike Forbes' Billionaires list, this ranking has been broadened to include family fortunes. For instance, Tulsi Tanti's $5.9 billion fortune represents his family's entire 70% stake in Suzlon Energy, not just his personal 30% stake. For people with fortunes in publicly traded companies, net worths were calculated using Nov. 6 market prices and exchange rates. Privately held companies are valued by coupling estimates of revenues or profits (or, in some cases, company-provided numbers) to prevailing ratios for similar publicly traded companies.